Maple butcher block cutting board

I got tired of our tired and busted cutting board, and wanted an end grain maple butcher block cutting board, but was abashed at the cost of a good one. So I decided to try and make one.

I couldn’t find any two by maple, only 1×2, which caused a little more work then I thought when I first started. A nice side effect, I was able to do a nice basket weave style pattern, as I glued up the stock to 2×2.

One mistake I did make was placing the whole board under the planer to try to flatten it, the vertical end grain at the tail splintered off bad. In hindsight I should have hand planed it. If you notice in the picture the outer blocks are not square, as I had to trim the board a little to make it even and remove the mistake. Rounded over the edges a little, and finished with a butcher block finish.

The results were better then I thought I could do, and we are still using the board. The weight is very nice and heavy. Also having the end grain up, the board still looks like new when cleaned and oiled..

although i’ve never done it with an endgrain cutting board, I’ve had a lot of success with building a frame with long runners to send short and uneven pieces through the planner. It supports the ends of the piece quite well and helps with the tear-out.

Jeff; You created a nice End grain CB with the wood that you had, that is all that matters. It came out wonderful. If I may make a suggestion, before you put an end grain CB in the planer, round over the edges before hand, either with a router or by hand with sand paper and it will eliminate the splintering. Also, be very careful to only remove very small amounts when putting into the planer to not have a planer jam.-Don